The Return
by justareader13
Summary: Damon and Bonnie's have a makeshift family and are happy together until an old friend shows up? Will they be able to stay intact with this person's arrival? AU AH


**I DISCLAIM MOST EVERYTHING.**

**Summary: Damon and Bonnie's have a makeshift family and are happy together until an old friend shows up? Will they be able to stay intact with this person's arrival? AU AH**

**Characters: Damon, Bonnie & Elena with cameos and mentions of others.**

**AN: ****Day five of Bamon week was Marriage and kids! (Bamon children would be amazing!) This idea was niggling me so I thought I may as well put it to paper. It's late but I decided to put it up anyway. **

Bonnie Salvatore-Bennett's alarm clock woke her up at 6 am in the morning. Her husband slept like the dead so it didn't faze him. She hit the snooze button and went about her hour long morning ritual: she went to the bathroom, showered, brushed her teeth, moisturized and then pulled on her preset clothing to tackle another work day. She wore black suit pants, a short sleeved button up silk shirt with a black suit jacket as well as some black wedges. Bonnie slung the jacket over her shoulder, grabbed her briefcase and purse and then tiptoed out of the bedroom and downstairs to the kitchen. She wasn't at all surprised to see her son and daughter already sat at the island.

"Good morning, my little demons." Bonnie greeted affectionately, placing her things down before kissing each of their foreheads.

"Morning mommy." They chorused.

"So eggs, sausage and Mickey Mouse pancakes?" She asked as she pulled on a pink apron to protect her clothing while she cooked. The two children cheered before returning to their bantering. Bonnie had to chuckled as they argued over which Pokémon was better. She was glad they were so companionable because really it could be very different. They technically weren't siblings by blood. Giovanni was Damon's son with Elena and Lorelei was Bonnie's daughter with Marcel but the children didn't care about genetics and neither did Bonnie or Damon. They had been raising the children together for three years now and had their baby together, Guinevere, and that pretty much rounded things out for them. Bonnie never thought she'd be the one. The one to get out of Mystic Falls because there was so much other people with abounding potential and she got lost amongst them sometimes. She never thought she'd be the one with the picket fence, super-hot husband, two and a half kids and a puppy to boot yet here she was (minus the picket fence) living that dream in her dream city, Chicago. Hell, she never thought she'd be the one married to Damon Salvatore but that was life wasn't? A long winding road.

Bonnie finished the food and dished it out on four plates, knowing Damon would come any moment once he smelt food. Bonnie filled two mugs with hot chocolate before topping it off with whipped cream and placing them before the six year old boy and four year old girl. She watched their eyes light up at the sight. They said their grace and then dove for the hot chocolate. Bonnie made two cups of coffee, one for her and one for Damon, and put some in her thermos for later. She filled up their siberian husky, Dean's, bowl with food and water and whistled for him before she removed the apron and made to tuck into her own food. Just as she sat Damon came shuffling into the room in his night clothes and wild bed hair.

"Morning." He mumbled. He was not a morning person at all. He wasn't himself without a cup of coffee in the morning. They watched Damon trudge to the coffee cup and practically inhale it for a few moments before looking back at them.

"Good morning devil spawn, Judgy." He said greeting them again but with more energy and pet names which others would take as insults but they were Salvatores, it was their thing.

"Good morning, old man." Lorelei greeted mockingly causing Giovanni and Bonnie to giggle at Damon's expense.

"I'll have you know I am only 27." Damon said indignantly.

"My teacher's younger than you. If I have to listen to her because she's older than me then you must be like dinosaur old, daddy." Gio threw in. Bonnie was all out laughing at this point.

"Those are your children Bonnie. Deal with them." Damon all but whined as he pouted at the laughing trio.

"I think you'll find they belong to you too otherwise they wouldn't be so mean." Bonnie answered once she sobered up.

"Because you're an angel." He said sarcastically. Bonnie just shrugged her shoulders. Some of the things Gio and Lori said were brutally honest and brash and their parents knew they got it from them. They could only imagine what the teenage years would be like but for now they're going to soak it up while it's still cute. The four idly chattered while they ate before it was time for Bonnie and the children to go to work and school respectively. Damon gave them all a kiss and waved them off just as a tiny adorable voice began babbling on the baby monitor. He smiled as he crept up the stairs to the nursery and peeked through the door that was ajar at his and Bonnie's baby.

She was lighter skinned than Bonnie on account of genetics. She had and Bonnie's nose and curly brown hair but that was it. The rest was either Damon or just uniquely Guinevere's. He watched the one and half year rolling around in her crib, babbling to herself and playing with the stuffed unicorn Caroline had bought her. The little girl didn't cry during the night or in the morning which Damon had found strange but Bonnie thanked God for. Lori had been a colicky baby and so had Gio but not Gwen, despite being the youngest she was the most reserved of the bunch. Damon hoped it stayed that but there was one surefire way to get her really excited.

Damon opened the door more to reveal himself to the child who turned to the noise. As soon as she saw him, Gwen began babbling excitedly and the only word Damon could understand was 'Dada'. She stood up and held onto the crib bars as she bounced up and down and reached out for him. It lit up Damon's soul, it really did and caused a smile only his family could coax from him to stretch across his face. He walked into the room and picked the baby up swinging her around and kissing her all over much to her delight. She squealed adorably from the attention. She placed a wet kiss to his cheek before wrapping her tiny arms around his neck and mushing her cheek to his affectionately. Damon chuckled at the baby's antics but brought her downstairs to feed her anyway. He didn't know how he got so lucky considering his past, especially with a certain Gilbert woman but now he had Bonnie and he honestly hadn't given Elena Gilbert much thought in the past three years of bliss. Why would he? She left almost seven years ago and hadn't said a word since neither through Katherine or Jeremy or of her own accord. She was long gone and never coming back.

** BWBWBWBW BWBWBWBW BWBWBWBW ** **BWBWBWBW BWBWBWBW**

Bonnie stared in silence at the woman across from her. Of all the people Bonnie least expected to see grace her office this took the cake. If she was asked to make a list of the people she least expected and/or least wanted to see her childhood friend wouldn't even make the cut because she wouldn't even cross Bonnie's mind. Yet here she was, sitting across from Bonnie with a small smirk playing on her lips. Bonnie noticed the doe eyed woman's eyes drift to a picture on her desk. The emerald eyed beauty knew it was a picture of her husband, her children and herself at the beach and right next to it was one of her wedding pictures.

"When Katherine told me about you and Damon I didn't believe it but lo and behold it's actually true. You _are_ my replacement." She quipped.

"You can't replace what you never had. You were never a mother to Giovanni and I never recall you being Damon's wife so I'm no one's replacement. I'm number one - scratch that - I'm the only one. I'm that little boy's mother and Damon is mine, let's establish that before we continue. Now what the hell do you want?" Bonnie said bluntly surprising Elena with her tone.

"So little Bonnie Bennett grew a backbone, wonders never cease." Elena said sarcastically.

"Don't mistake my apathy towards you and your decisions in the past as spinelessness. I just genuinely didn't care if you destroyed your life. I had my own to live and I still do." Bonnie replied disinterestedly.

"Really? Because from where I'm sitting you're living _my_ life." Elena sneered. Bonnie scoffed at Elena then.

Back in high school Elena, Caroline, Bonnie and Katherine were the best of friends. They were attached at the hip since the age of two and even though Elena grew to be a party girl, Katherine became a man-eater and Caroline was a neurotic control freak Bonnie still stuck by them straight up until the Salvatores moved to Mystic Falls. The four sixteen year old girls would gush over how hot Stefan was and how totally sexy his older brother by three years, Damon, was. That was until Elena decided watching from afar wasn't enough. She had a complex when it came to one upping her older-by-an-hour twin sister Katherine and when she found out the curly haired vixen slept with one of the Salvatore brothers (though she wouldn't disclose which one) Elena basically made it her mission to have them both wrapped around her pinky and it worked. She was officially with Stefan but frequently betrayed him with Damon however the younger Salvatore kept going back to her while Bonnie comforted Caroline in the background who was hung up on Stefan. Then one day Bonnie just realized she didn't care about their little love triangle or love square or whatever. Both Elena and Stefan were her friends and she had told them to let the other go or make a firm decision on who to be with so many times she started to feel like a broken record so she just stayed out of it. She focused on her studies and became valedictorian. She went on to college in Chicago all with no thought to the triangle of doom at all and no knowledge that while she moved on to bigger, better things Elena would find out she was pregnant at 18.

In Chicago, Bonnie met new people and became best friends with a girl named Rebekah Mikaelson in college. She met a guy she liked a lot named Marcel but apparently he didn't care as much because when she got knocked up at 20 he ditched her. She wasn't alone though, she had Rebekah and the Mikaelsons as well as her own family; they were all really supportive of her. Then one day out of the blue she saw Katherine again, who was living in Chicago and dating Rebekah's oldest brother Elijah. Katherine linked her to Caroline and Stefan who were in Chicago too and she reconnected with them and then Damon, who was living in Chicago as well. The influx of people from her past had given Bonnie a head rush but she found out Damon and Stefan had moved to Chicago because their mother lived there and they wanted to be close to her after having lived mostly with their father following the divorce. Caroline followed to be with Stefan and Damon came with his own person trailing behind him, his three year old son with Elena to be exact. Caroline had told Bonnie that Elena abandoned Giovanni and left Damon to care for him when he was just three months old.

Bonnie wasn't really looking for love at the time because she had a one year old daughter to care for and she knew Damon's history with Elena but it snuck up on her and now she was married to him, she was legally his son's mother, he was legally her daughter's father and they had a little one together. Elena had been gone so long that not even Katherine could keep track of her movements yet here she was seven years after leaving just sitting in Bonnie's office not looking too different from when Bonnie last saw her. She was more muscular, she had a tan, her hair was cut shorter and just went past her shoulders but that was it really. Bonnie continued staring inquiringly at Elena who leaned forward steadily staring Bonnie in the eyes.

"I'm back now Bonnie. Thanks and all for being a placeholder for me in Giovanni's life but as you can see I'm ready to take my son back now." Elena said evenly. Bonnie scoffed again and looked at Elena like she should be put away.

"You've finally lost your mind if you think-"

"Damon may recall I told him to watch Giovanni until I came back and now I'm back."

"You said you were going to the store." Bonnie deadpanned.

"I did go to the store and then I got on a train and went to Sarasota. I never said how long I'd be gone." Elena replied flippantly. Bonnie shook her head not wanting to continue this conversation. She stood up from her desk in her large office (an office fit for the granddaughter of the CEO of Bennett Press who was also the head editor), she grabbed her suit jacket, pulled it over her silk red shirt and pulled her bag over her shoulder before she addressed Elena again.

"You're wasting your time and mine." Bonnie said simply.

"Bonnie, I want to be in my son's life." Elena said vehemently. Bonnie stared at her seeing a flash of her old friend but she also remembered the obvious anger and pain Damon and Gio still harbored from her abandonment so she shook her head before she left her office.

"Rebekah, please show Elena out." She said to her best friend and assistant who had been more than likely standing outside the door and listening to everything that was said.

"With pleasure." Rebekah replied walking to Bonnie's office. Bonnie's pretty sure she heard Elena cry out in pain.

_Whatever._ Bonnie thought continuing down the hall.

Rebekah had a violent streak and Bonnie wouldn't protest this time. She pulled out her cell phone and called Damon.

"Damon, I need you to meet me... now."

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"Elena's back."

Damon felt his jaw drop as he sat at a diner across from Bonnie absorbing the unexpected news. Elena was back. She up and left Damon and Giovanni and now she just breezes back in expecting open arms. Damon didn't even know Giovanni was his son until the boy was born and then there was no denying it. Elena initially said Stefan was the father because the two had a one night stand during a time when Stefan and Caroline were broken up even though Damon and Elena were still kind of a thing at the time. It put a strain on Stefan and Caroline's relationship and a strain on Stefan in general because he was eighteen and just starting college in Chicago while Elena was still back in Mystic Falls. In the end Stefan and Caroline made up, bought a ticket for Elena to fly to Chicago and move in with them and promised to help raise the child in any way they could. He was born with Elena's round face but Damon's eyes, pale skin, nose and mouth. It was apparent who the father was and so Damon stepped up. He was older, though not by much. An 18 and 21 year old raising a baby wasn't much better than three 18 year olds doing it but Damon still convinced Elena to bring Gio and move in with him. They lived with him until one day Elena went out and just never came back.

Damon had actually been an hour into cleaning the bar he co-owned with Stefan, 'The Rager', when Bonnie called him. He had decided to leave Gwen with Stefan and his baby with Caroline, Daniel. Stefan hadn't acted weird or suspicious at all so Damon knew he didn't know about this and no way Caroline could know and not blab or give away that she was keeping a secret. Katherine hadn't said anything to anyone so Damon didn't know if she knew her sister was in town or not. He cleared his throat and made sure his voice stayed steady. He didn't want his anger getting uncontrollable because he surely would direct it at Bonnie because she was within his proximity and she didn't deserve it.

"Well, what does she want?" Damon asked her with his head down. He was glad his voice remained even; small victories.

"Elena says she's come back to take Gio." Bonnie said with clear reticence. Damon's head snapped up to Bonnie.

"Excuse me?" Damon said incredulously. Bonnie sipped her coffee from her thermos looking at Damon with an expression that clearly said 'it's so ridiculous I refuse to repeat it'.

"One: is she insane? And two: over my dead body." Damon replied once he really understood what Bonnie relayed to him.

"I told her she was wasting her time." Bonnie said, shrugging.

"She's never going to see Gio again." Damon mumbled as if that were the most obvious thing in the world. Bonnie sat up straight in her seat.

"Now, I didn't say that." Bonnie clarified.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Damon asked glaring at Bonnie.

"Yes, I have been there for Gio these past three years and yes he looks at me as his mom but at the end of the day she's his mother."

"No she isn't." Damon protested.

"Damon, she carried him for nine months. She went through agonizing pain to give birth to him."

"That doesn't make her his mother." Damon continued protesting vehemently.

"I have to believe that some part of her cares for him. I mean, the Elena I know—",

"Would the Elena you know abandon her child in the first place?" Damon questioned with agitation clear in his voice.

"No but—",

"But nothing. I do not want Elena Gilbert anywhere near my son." Damon said emphatically with finality in his voice.

"Damon." Bonnie said firmly as she noticed people starting to stare at them. She said it in the tone of voice that said he had better hear her out or he was looking at sleeping on the couch tonight and no sex for a week if not a month. Damon turned his head to Bonnie giving her his attention.

"One day Giovanni is going to ask about his mother. His real mother. Do you want to look your son in the eye and tell him that he was denied his right to know her because of your personal feelings about her?" Damon could see the reason in this but he was still reluctant.

"What if it was Marcel? Huh? What then? Would you just be fine with him turning up out of the blue and basically demanding to have a spot in Lorelei's life? A spot he gave up a long time ago?"

"If this situation was reversed, I would discuss this with you but at the end of the day I wouldn't deny him the chance to at least meet his daughter." Damon sighed, knowing Bonnie would answer something like that but asking anyway.

"We have this whole life we've created for ourselves and she just comes back and ruins everything." Damon said rubbing his hands over his face tiredly. Bonnie reached out and pulled one of his hands into her. She kissed it before resting her cheek on the back of his hand.

"Nothing is ruined. Elena is back. So what? That won't change anything about us being together or our family at all. She gets to be in Gio's life on your terms. She forfeited any right to complain about your reluctance to her when she left. If she doesn't want to comply with your terms then she just won't get to see him. You don't have to get along with her, hell you can hate her if you want to, but you have to speak with her. You have to." Bonnie urged. Damon sighed knowing she was right but there was one more person he needed to talk to first.

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Damon was going about his nightly routine of putting the children to bed. Lori and Gwen had already fallen asleep, Bonnie had bid Gio and the girls goodnight and was settling in herself. Damon had seen the girls already and he just had to see Gio before going to bed himself. He walked into the room where Gio was laying down with his night light on.

"I was wondering where you were, Daddy." He said upon Damon's entrance.

"Sorry, I was just thinking about some things." Damon said walking over to the bed and sitting on the edge.

"About what?" Gio asked curiously. Damon breathed a calming breathe before taking the plunge.

"About your mom."

"Why? She's just in the bedroom." Gio asked confused. He thought his father meant Bonnie because she was the only mom he had.

"No, not that mom." Damon replied softly. Gio still looked confused.

"I mean the mom who grew you in her stomach."

"Oh." Was all Gio replied. He didn't know much about that mommy. Auntie Katherine and Uncle Jeremy seemed to know her well and sometimes talked about her but they never said her name or if they had any relation to her like his daddy and Uncle Stefan did. He had no recollection of her, not even a photo but he did have all his memories with Bonnie so he didn't really have any feelings that he directly connected to when it came to his birth mom.

"Why are you thinking about her?" Gio asked with clear curiosity and nothing more.

"If she came back... would you like her to be your mommy?" Damon asked in a way in which he could gauge what his son's feelings about Elena would be.

"Why would I want her to be my mommy? I already have one." Gio said plainly.

"You wouldn't want another one?" Damon asked for confirmation.

"No. I love my mommy enough." Gio replied, not really understanding this line of questioning. Damon nodded to himself before he kissed Gio's forehead,

"Goodnight Lucifer." Damon said teasingly.

"Goodnight T-Rex." Damon chuckled before walking from the room. He decision already made for him.

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Elena hesitantly rung the doorbell of Damon and Bonnie's home. For all the bravado she put on she was terrified of what laid on the other side. She was surprised when she got a call from Damon inviting her to an impromptu barbeque at his house. He said everyone was going to be there: people she hadn't seen in a while and others she never met, probably Rebekah, Bonnie's assistant who dragged her out of Bonnie's office by her hair the other day. Elena looked up as Damon swung the door open. He hadn't changed much either, subtle things mostly, his hair was slightly longer, his eyes seem impossibly bluer but that was it. He silently waved her into the two story home and led her to the living room where they sat across from each other. The clock ticked, the grill outside sizzled, chatter could be heard from the backyard but Damon and Elena just stared at each other. Well Damon stared at Elena while she switched her gaze any and everywhere else.

"Nice place. I'm guessing Bonnie decorated. She's always had an eye for interior design-" Elena started saying, trying to fill the silence before Damon cut her off.

"Shut up."

"Excuse me?" Elena said snapping her head to Damon and almost immediately regretted it under his intense glare.

"Shut up. You left seven years ago you don't get to just show up and think we're going to engage in small talk." Elena swallowed at Damon's scathing tone.

"Where did you go? Bonnie said Sarasota. Katherine said you were in Canada at some point and Jeremy once said you were with him." He said. Elena sighed before answering, Damon deserved answers.

"I did go to Sarasota first then Miami to unwind. Then I moved in with Jeremy and April in Denver for a while. I went to Toronto next and stayed there for a few months. One year has passed by and I still felt like I needed to keep moving so I signed up with the Peace Corps. I've been bouncing between Asia and Africa doing work for the past six years before a friend finally convinced me it was time to go home. She said trying to save the world wouldn't change the fact that I abandoned my son." Elena explained remembering Rose's words.

"She's right. It doesn't change a damn thing. You still left and you won't get any forgiveness from me." Damon said harshly.

"You called me here Damon." Elena replied, obviously confused about why she was here if it wasn't to talk about some kind of negotiation about their son.

"Bonnie wanted you here, I was simply the messenger. She wants you to have a place in Gio's life." He stated. Elena looked surprised at that. Bonnie? Advocating for her?

"If it were up to me you wouldn't see him again in your miserable life." Elena looked down to escape Damon's eyes.

"But at the end of the day what's best for all of my kids is what's most important." Elena looked up hopefully.

"So I'm going lay out the ground rules now, no negotiations, if you don't like my terms the door is right there. 1) You're going to be introduced as Gio's aunt, not his mother."

"But-"

"He doesn't want another mother. He told me that he's happy with only having Bonnie but he loves his aunts and uncles so you will be Aunt Elena, Aunt Katherine's sister and nothing more. Got it?" Damon continued ignoring her protest. Elena nodded feebly.

"2) If you do anything to any of my children, that's it. No second chances."

"Okay." Elena said trying not to be offended by the insinuation that she's hurt a child.

"3) Do not even let the thought of getting between me and Bonnie cross your mind or Stefan and Caroline for that matter. If your presence interferes with our lives you will no longer be a factor. 4) Do not tell Giovanni you're his mother, you'll just confuse him and 5) ... Don't leave him again."

Elena looked into Damon's eyes and could see the pain she caused him, it was clear for all to see but there was something else. There was a constant glimmer in his eyes. It was akin to what she saw when they were "together" but it was stronger, brighter and it seemed to overtake the pain that she put there. She knew the glimmer was Bonnie and her love for him. Elena broke him and Bonnie didn't just piece him back together, she made him better than ever before. Elena knew she messed up as soon as she left but she couldn't make herself go back home so she didn't. She regretted it every second of everyday but she couldn't turn back the clock now. Elena nodded her head at Damon.

"I'm so sorry for what I did to you Damon." Elena said earnestly.

"Actually if you never left I might not have Bonnie and our daughter now. So some good things did come from your abandonment." Damon replied just as smaller feet came pattering into the living room.

"Daddy, Uncle Stefan says the burgers are ready." Giovanni said running into the room. Elena knew who he was as soon as her eyes landed on him and she couldn't hold back her gasp. Gio looked over at Elena and then his eyes lit up and he launched himself at her.

"Auntie Katherine! You came." He exclaimed happily. Damon stared at the two frozen. He watched Elena tentatively wrap her arms around her son with tears in her eyes but Gio was none the wiser, he just thought his Aunt Katherine came to the barbeque afterall. The eldest Gilbert said she was coming down with something but really she just wanted to avoid Elena.

"Gio." Damon said clearing his throat. Gio pulled back from Elena and stared at her a little.

"What did you do to your hair, Auntie Kat?" Gio asked.

"That's what I'm trying to tell you. That isn't Katherine she's her twin sister, your Aunt Elena." Damon explained.

"Oh." Gio said, slightly embarrassed that he hugged this stranger but he quickly saved face, he was a Salvatore afterall. He held out his hand confidently to Elena to shake.

"Nice to meet you, Aunt Elena." Elena nodded while still staring at Gio.

"It's really nice to meet you too Giovanni." She breathed out.

"Come outside, Aunt Elena. Uncle Stefan is grilling, Mommy made macaroni pie and everyone's there except Auntie Kat, she's sick today." Gio said pulling Elena up and dragging her outside while chatting to her. Damon followed them.

When they got outside Elena could feel the multiple holes being penetrated through her but Gio ignorantly pranced with her to the grill.

"Uncle Stefan, can Aunt Elena get a plate?" Gio asked politely. Stefan smiled at the boy but wouldn't meet Elena's gaze despite her staring at him. He put a hotdog, a burger, some macaroni pie and a piece of chicken on a plate and handed it to Elena wordlessly before walking over to Caroline who held a baby boy in her arms. He ignored Elena's gaze and she had to remind herself of Damon's terms. She saw Damon with Bonnie and two little girls sat under a sun umbrella, Katherine's husband Elijah was there with their daughter Elizaveta, Bonnie's assistant Rebekah with a blonde all American looking man and there was a bunch of other people she didn't know but she just focused on Gio, he was why she was here afterall.

Damon grabbed Lori by her waist and hauled the curly headed girl up to sit on his lap while she giggled at the sudden intrusion. He looked over to where Bonnie was sitting with Gwen in her lap smiling at him.

"What?" Damon asked. Bonnie shrugged at him.

"Nothing just… I'm glad that's resolved."

"For now. We'll watch, see how she acts with him and everyone else." Damon replied. Bonnie leaned over and pressed a soft kiss to Damon's lips before leaning back in her chaise.

"I'm really proud of you for doing this, you know?" Bonnie said. Lorelei, not wanting to be left out, decided to throw her two cents in.

"I'm proud of you too, Daddy. I love you." She said sweetly kissing Damon on his cheek. Bonnie made an 'awww' face at the scene as Damon smiled at his daughter and kissed her forehead.

"I love you too, honey." Gio skipped over to his family hugging onto Bonnie before he kissed her cheek. Damon looked over his family and he knew he did alright.

_We might not be perfect,_ he thought, looking over at Elena as she spoke to Caroline with an apologetic look on her face.

_But this is my family and hey, I think I did pretty okay._

**AN: Hella chessy ending but it needed to stop somewhere.**


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